In a boon to the pharmaceutical industry, the federal government moved to dismiss nearly a dozen lawsuits alleging drug makers devised schemes in which nurses were used illegally to promote their medicines and boost prescriptions, an arrangement that purportedly violated federal kickback laws.

In explaining its rationale, the U.S. Department of Justice argued the company that made the allegations was a “professional” whistleblower that used “false pretenses” to gather information for the “cloned” lawsuits. The feds complained that several investors created a company to file the lawsuits and pretended to conduct research studies in order to obtain information for their allegations, according to court documents in a case involving Bayer Pharmaceuticals (BAYRY).

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